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Letter to the Editor

Appellate Court Upholds State Farm Verdict

An Illinois state Appellate Court has upheld most of a lower court's verdict in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., ruling the country's largest auto insurer acted with "calculated deception of its policy holders" in supplying them with auto-body parts that critics claimed were substandard.

The verdict, handed down by the Fifth Circuit Illinois Court of Appeals in Mount Vernon, upheld most of the $1.2 billion awarded by a Marion judge and jury to 4.7 million plaintiffs nationwide in October 1999.

The appellate court reduced the award by $130 million because of damages that had been computed twice by the lower court.

A spokesman for Bloomington-based State Farm says the company is disappointed in the verdict and will appeal it to the Illinois Supreme Court.

But lawyers representing the plaintiffs say the language the judges used in the 40-page opinion was unusually strong.

The plaintiffs claim that they had no choice but to repair their cars with so-called aftermarket body parts, including hoods, fenders and other parts modeled on manufacturers' originals but made without access to factory specifications. Critics say the parts fail to deliver the same level of fit, finish, corrosion resistance and - in some cases - safety, as original parts.

State Farm argued that the cheaper parts held down insurance premiums. They also claimed that no one was forced to accept anything, since any parts used are guaranteed by the company.

Plaintiffs' lawyers also say the decision strengthens several similar lawsuits filed in other states against other large auto insurers.

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